Obese teenage girls have a higher risk of developing mental health problems like depression, later in life. Like adults, obesity amongst children and adolescents can have serious consequences on their physical and mental health. In the case of teenagers, obesity has a direct relevance to the way they perceive themselves in relation to the outside world. So, the most immediate effect of obesity is emotional and social, such as the risk of being ostracised by the peers. Obese teenage girls may be more likely than their thinner peers to develop depression or anxiety disorders as adults. To assess the risk that obesity can pose to the mental health of adolescents growing up into adults, researchers at the Ohio State University College of Public Health in Columbus studied 776 boys and girls who were between the ages of 9 and 18 when they entered the study. Over the next 20 years, they were assessed three times for depression and anxiety. The results showed that girls who were obese as teens had a roughly four-times higher risk of clinical depression or anxiety disorders in adulthood. The risk of these disorders was higher among girls who were obese between the ages of 12 and 18 - even when other factors, such as family income, parents' education and parents' history of emotional problems, were taken into account. It was also found that many obese girls in the study did not develop either disorder. In comparison to girls, there was no such link seen in the case of boys. Part of the problem could also be related to the fact that females face more social pressure to be thin and as a result tend to have a poorer body image than boys. Thus, besides other side effects obesity can also have an impact on the psychological health and well being of individuals, especially females.
Psychosomatic medicine,
November 2007